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Political Law Blog

Welcome to the Holland & Knight Political Law Blog, featuring news and analysis related to federal and state campaign finance, ethics and lobbying disclosure laws, as well as Congressional gift and travel rules. We provide a regular review of happenings at the Federal Election Commission and analysis of a variety of federal and state topics of interest to our readers.

H.R. 1, the first bill introduced by the Democratic leadership in the House of Representatives, focuses largely on reforms to the political process, including changes to the redistricting process, structural reform for the Federal Election Commission, and an emphasis on anti-corruption and ethics.
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As control of the U.S. House of Representatives shifts to Democrats during the next Congress and we enter the presidential election cycle, now is a good time for entities that regularly interact with the federal government to assess their government affairs activities – both internal and external – to ensure effectiveness and compliance with federal, state, and local campaign finance, lobbying, and ethics laws.
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When the new Congress convenes on Jan. 3, 2019, Democrats will take control of the U.S. House of Representatives for the first time in eight years and will gain the ability to launch a new wave of congressional investigations and oversight. We expect a major focus of these investigations to be issues related to ethics, conflicts of interest, campaign contributions and corruption.
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The New Hampshire Department of Justice has recently issued critical guidance for any campaign, corporation or individual that engages in political activity in the state. As in many states, New Hampshire's Campaign Finance System bifurcates responsibility between the State's Secretary of State, who is responsible for implementing the state's disclosure system, and the state's Department of Justice, which enforces the underlying campaign finance statutes.
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On November 8, 2016, more than two-thirds of the citizens of Missouri approved passage of the Missouri Campaign Contribution Reform Initiative, also known as Constitutional Amendment 2, which adopts new campaign finance limits for the state. Missouri's previous contributions limits, which were imposed via proposition in 1994, were repealed by the legislature in 2008.
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As the 2016 election nears, some employers are losing productivity, attention to customer service and worker focus as personnel discuss or advocate their political opinions. However, private employers often can reassert control by recognizing that two commonly held beliefs about "politics in the workplace" are, in fact, misconceptions. Employers who institute carefully crafted and uniformly enforced policies that limit political activities can lower the risk of employee claims while increasing worker productivity.
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The week of March 10, the Federal Election Commission met in executive session on Tuesday, March 11, but did not meet in open session. The Commission made public the results of one Matter Under Review (MUR) and three other campaign finance enforcement matters resulting in the assessment of civil penalties.
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The week of March 3, the Federal Election Commission met in open and executive sessions. During its open Session the Commission adopted technical corrections to its regulations and approved Final Audit Reports for state and county party committees in Texas, Iowa, Vermont and South Carolina.
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On January 1, the Georgia Government Transparency and Campaign Finance Commission began to implement statutorily mandated changes to its ethics and campaign finance disclosure rules. Learn more in this Holland & Knight Political Law blog post.
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The week of December 23, the Federal Election Commission did not meet, but made public two campaign finance enforcement matters that were resolved through the Commission's alternative dispute resolution (ADR) program, as well as a Statement of Reasons authored by the Commission's Republican members regarding a dismissal of MUR 6703, a complaint brought by a Libertarian candidate who alleged that he was wrongly excluded from a televised debate in the 6th District of Massachusetts during the last general election.
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The week of December 16, the Arizona Supreme Court allowed the state to begin implementing Arizona House Bill 2593, legislation adopted in April 2013 that not only increased the limits on individual state campaign contributions by five-to-tenfold, but also eliminated the state's aggregate limit on individual contributions to candidates and committees who support candidates.
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With the New Year knocking at the door and the 2014 election season just around the corner, it is time for those of us who manage a federal Political Action Committee ("PAC") to take the housekeeping steps necessary to remain compliant with federal campaign finance laws.
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